LulzSec claims CIA website hack; opens request line

LulzSec, the same hacker group who took down Sony Pictures and Sony Music, has now claimed to have hacked the CIA (cia.gov) website, though this act has not been confirmed by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency – who are looking into the matter. Independent reports have come in of the CIA site being unavailable for stretches of time yesterday – though this could have been caused by the thousands of users flocking to the site, to check whether the CIA had actually been hacked or not, after reading the group’s tweet: “Tango down - cia.gov - for the lulz.”
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Lulz Security has had a short but public history, and has claimed to have hacked 12 different web properties since its first hack – the US X Factor contestant database, on May 7, 2011. Past governmental exploits include the senate.gov (U.S. Senate) and Infragard website (FBI-affiliated).

2011 might just turn out to be the Year of the Hack, with the rate at which web properties of major companies and institutions have been compromised by both ethical, and not-so-ethical hackers. LulzSec also made headlines yesterday when it opened “request line” for DDoS attacks, asking people to suggest hack targets.